Witnesses to appear before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation include the Federal Railroad Administration administrator.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will convene a hearing on the implementation of positive train control Wednesday.
Positive Train Control, or PTC, is a radio- or GPS-based system designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derailments, incursions into work zones and the movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position.
The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 initially required that certain freight, commuter and passenger rail lines in the United States install PTC by Dec. 31, 2015. Congress extended that deadline to Dec. 31 of this year.
Wednesday’s hearing will focus on the current status of implementation of PTC, anticipated compliance with the statute and the challenges with efforts to install and operationalize PTC systems.
Witnesses will be Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration administrator; Susan Fleming, Government Accountability Office director of physical infrastructure issues; Kevin Corbett, executive director of New Jersey Transit; and Scot Naparstek, Amtrak executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Witness testimony, opening statements and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.commerce.senate.gov.
The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials conducted its own PTC hearing Sept. 13.
Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham, R-Calif., said nine railroads were at risk of not meeting federal deadlines for implementation.
“FRA currently considers any railroad that installed less than 90 percent of its PTC system hardware as of June 30, 2018, to be at risk, as installation of all PTC system hardware is only an initial phase of implementing a PTC system and only one of the six statutory criteria required to qualify for an alternative schedule,” Denham said.
Positive Train Control, or PTC, is a radio- or GPS-based system designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derailments, incursions into work zones and the movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position.
The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 initially required that certain freight, commuter and passenger rail lines in the United States install PTC by Dec. 31, 2015. Congress extended that deadline to Dec. 31 of this year.
Wednesday’s hearing will focus on the current status of implementation of PTC, anticipated compliance with the statute and the challenges with efforts to install and operationalize PTC systems.
Witnesses will be Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration administrator; Susan Fleming, Government Accountability Office director of physical infrastructure issues; Kevin Corbett, executive director of New Jersey Transit; and Scot Naparstek, Amtrak executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Witness testimony, opening statements and a live video of the hearing will be available on www.commerce.senate.gov.
The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials conducted its own PTC hearing Sept. 13.
Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Denham, R-Calif., said nine railroads were at risk of not meeting federal deadlines for implementation.
“FRA currently considers any railroad that installed less than 90 percent of its PTC system hardware as of June 30, 2018, to be at risk, as installation of all PTC system hardware is only an initial phase of implementing a PTC system and only one of the six statutory criteria required to qualify for an alternative schedule,” Denham said.
